Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions (40 page)

When you think about something good, there is no room for wrong thoughts to get into your mind. Concentrating on trying to not think wrong thoughts can actually increase them, but simply filling your mind with good things leaves no room for bad things to get in.

The Bible says that if we walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh (see Gal. 5:16), and this simply means that if we concentrate on the things God desires, then we will not have room in our lives for what the devil desires.

This was a life-changing revelation for me. I realized I couldn’t wait for something good to just fall into my mind. I had to
choose
my thoughts
on purpose
. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 30:19 that God sets before us life and death, blessings and curses. If you and I do not choose thoughts that lead to life, the enemy will make the choice for us—and he will choose thoughts that lead to death. But when we choose thoughts that lead to life, our lives will be blessed.

Take time to roll good thoughts over and over in your mind and this will help you form the habit of thinking good things. You must believe you can do something or you won’t even try. So I repeat:
“You can choose your own thoughts!”
You can “overcome (master) evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).

I
f we can learn to agree with God in our thoughts—to think the way He wants us to think—then we can
have
what He wants us to have,
be
who He wants us to be, and
do
what He wants us to do. But it won’t just happen. We have to be intentional. We have to invest our thoughts, instead of wasting them.

I have said many times,
“We have to think about what we’re thinking about,”
and I believe it now more than ever. If you’re in a bad mood, ask yourself what you have been thinking about, and you’ll probably find the root of your mood. If you’re feeling sorry for yourself, just think about what you’re thinking about; your attitude may need an adjustment. Remember,
“Where the mind goes, the man follows.”
Our moods are directly linked to our thoughts, so good thoughts will produce good moods.

We need to take responsibility for our thoughts. We must stop acting as if there is nothing we can do about them. God has given us the power to resist the devil by choosing to think on things that are godly and good. It gives me tremendous hope when I realize that I can be assured of a better life by thinking good thoughts. That is exciting!

God will show us what to do to “clean up” our thinking, but He will not do the cleaning for us. He gives us His Word to teach us, and His Spirit to help us, but only we can make the decision to do what we should do. You can learn to think properly and powerfully if you want to; it will take time but it is an investment that pays great dividends. The Bible is a record of God’s thoughts, ways, and deeds. As we agree with it, we are agreeing with God!

I
t’s amazing how quickly and completely our thoughts can change our moods. Negative thinking of any kind quickly steals my joy and causes a variety of bad moods. When we are negative and gloomy, other people don’t enjoy being with us; when our thoughts are down, everything else goes down with them. Our moods, countenance, conversation, and even our body can begin to droop in a downward position. Hands hang down, shoulders slump, and we tend to look down instead of up. People who tend to be negative in their thoughts and conversations are usually unhappy and rarely content with anything for very long.

Even if something exciting does happen, they soon find something wrong with it. As soon as they see one thing wrong, they tend to fix their minds on it; any enjoyment they might have is blocked by concentrating on the one negative. They may occasionally experience momentary enthusiasm, but it quickly evaporates and gloom once again fills their entire demeanor. They probably do not realize that they could be happy if they would simply change the way they think. We must stop merely
waiting
for something good to happen and take action to ensure that something good will happen.

I am truly amazed when I consider the fact that we have the ability to make ourselves happy or sad by what we choose to think about. The Bible says we must be satisfied with the consequences of our words, whether they are good or evil (see Prov. 18:20).

Our words begin with our thoughts, so the same principle that applies to our mouths also applies to our minds. We need to be satisfied with the consequences of our thoughts because they hold the power of life and death. I would add that they hold the power of contentment and discontent, of joy and sadness.

W
et concrete can be moved with ease and is very impressionable before it dries or “sets.” But once it does set, it is in place for good. It cannot be easily molded or changed. The same principle applies to setting your mind.

To set your mind is to determine decisively what you will think, what you believe, and what you will or will not do—and to set it in such a way that you cannot be easily swayed or persuaded otherwise. Once you set your mind according to the truth of God’s principles for a good life, you need to keep it set and not allow outside forces to reshape your thinking. To set your mind on godly things means to be firm in your decision to agree with God’s ways of living no matter who may try to convince you that you are wrong.

The reason setting your mind and keeping it set is so important is that there’s really not much hope of being able to resist temptation if you don’t make up your mind ahead of time concerning what you will do when you are tempted. You will be tempted; that’s just a fact of life. So, you need to
think ahead of time about the situations that can pose problems for you. If you wait until you are in the midst of a situation to decide whether or not you will stand firm, then you are sure to give up.

Make up your mind ahead of time that you are going to go all the way through with God. Some people spend their entire lives starting and quitting. They never follow through. They may set their minds, but when temptation comes—when things get difficult—they don’t keep it set. I strongly encourage you to be one of the ones who finishes what you start by keeping your mind set in the right direction all the way through to victory.

R
enewing your mind is not like renewing your driver’s license or library card, which can be done quickly and doesn’t have to be repeated for months or years. Renewing your mind is more like undertaking the job of renewing and refurbishing an old house. It doesn’t happen quickly; it takes time, energy, and effort, and there is always something that needs attention.

Don’t fall into the trap of believing you can renew your mind by thinking right thoughts one time. To get the mind renewed, you will have to think right thoughts over and over again, until they become rooted in your thinking—until right thoughts come to you more easily and naturally than wrong thoughts.

You will have to discipline yourself to think properly, and you will have to guard against falling into old thought patterns, which can happen very easily. When it does, don’t feel bad—just start thinking rightly again. You will eventually come to the place where wrong thoughts make you uncomfortable and they just don’t fit right into your thinking processes any longer.

Let me be quick to say that you should not feel condemned if you are struggling with your thought life right now or if you face struggles in the days to come. Condemnation only weakens you; it never helps you make progress. Anytime we recognize that we are allowing wrong thoughts into our minds, we should ask God to forgive us and continue pressing on toward our goal.

Celebrate every victory because it helps you to not feel overwhelmed by what still remains to be conquered, and remember that God is very patient and long-suffering. He is understanding and will never give up on you.

Y
ou and I aren’t accustomed to hearing the phrase “gird up” today. But in biblical times both men and women wore long, skirtlike outfits. If they tried to run in those clothes, there was a good chance they could get tangled up in the long fabrics and stumble. When they needed to move quickly, they gathered the material of their garments and pulled it up so they could walk or run freely. They would “gird up” their clothing.

When the Bible tells us to “gird up the loins” of our minds, I believe it means to get our minds off of everything that would cause us to stumble as we run the race God has set before us. I think it may also refer to concentrating on the thing at hand rather than allowing our thoughts to wander all over the place. God has a good plan for each of us, but we must walk the path that leads us to it.

Focus and concentration are both real challenges in our world today. We have a great deal of information coming at us all the time, and to keep our minds on what our purpose is requires great determination, and even training.

You might get up on Monday and fully intend to start your day by spending time with God in prayer and Bible study. Then you intend to get three specific projects finished that day. You need to go to the grocery store, get some maintenance done on your car, and finish cleaning out a closet that you started working on last week. Your intention is good, but if you don’t focus on those projects you will surely be pulled away by other things or people. Girding up your mind is another way of saying
“stay focused on what you need to do.”

I
believe God was testing Abraham’s priorities in this Scripture. Isaac had probably become very important to Abraham, so God tested Abraham to see if he would give up Isaac to Him in faith and obedience. When God saw Abraham’s willingness to obey, He provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in place of Isaac (Gen. 22:12–13).

We all go through tests. As with Abraham, these tests are designed to try, prove, and develop our faith. One of the tests I had to face was:
“What if I never have the ministry I’ve dreamed about for so long? What if I never get to minister to more than fifty people at a time? Can I still love God and be happy?”

What about you? You may want to get married. What if you never get married? Can you be happy anyway? You may want a certain person in your family to change. What if that individual never changes? Can you be happy anyway? You may want to make more money. What if you never have any more money than what you have right now? Can you be happy anyway?

If you don’t get whatever it is you want, can you still love God? Will you still serve Him all the days of your life, or are you just trying to get something from Him? A fine line divides the motives of the heart between selfish and selfless; we must always make sure we understand which side of the line we are standing on.